Research Areas

Research

research overview

Dr. Brown's research focuses on astrophysical fluid dynamics and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) of stellar interiors. Brown explores stellar dynamo physics by studying the coupling of rotation, convection and magnetism through numerical simulations on massively-parallel supercomputers. This research is conducted using the Rayleigh code and the open-source Dedalus pseudospectral framework, along with the MESA stellar structure code. Brown's research focuses especially on global-scale dynamo action and the properties of convection, studying how large-scale fields can be built in the convection zone of a star. Further research is exploring how such dynamos couple to the stably-stratified radiative interior through tachoclines of shear and penetrative convection, and has lead to improved treatments of gravity waves within anelastic and other low-mach number models. Results from these dynamo models are being connected with astrophysical observations and laboratory based dynamo experiments.